


A Caretaker's New Charge

by nana_banana



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre-Canon, Solitary Contemplation, Solitude, Spiritual Calling, The Blooming Grove, The Wildmother - Freeform, passing the torch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 19:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17751827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nana_banana/pseuds/nana_banana
Summary: During his afternoon tea, Caduceus experiences a change in the monotony.





	A Caretaker's New Charge

**Author's Note:**

> A quick fic.

Humming to himself, Caduceus Clay lifted the pot from the small fire, pouring the steaming water into the cup. He watched it swirl in, the petals, spices, and leaves a whirlpool of color. A small smile filled his lips and he set the pot back down, dousing the flames as he did.

“That’s nice,” he said aloud to the cycle of color, sitting back to let the tea steep.

His home was quiet, but not. He could hear nature around him, wind flowing through the grove, insects chirping, frogs croaking, and rabbits thumping through the undergrowth. It was a loaded silence, filled with a serene peace.

He turned his gaze, eyes roving to the arched window three feet away where vines had crawled up and over the sill. Beyond it, the light between the canopy of trees fell through in delicate sunbeams. He smiled at the sight of the graveyard, entrusted to his family for generations, overflowing with color, beautiful and strangely calming in the chaotic color stretching across the graves.

He sat for a while, taking in the view, hands folded on his lap in tranquility.

A scuttling on his shoulder drew his attention, and he looked over to see a beetle perched there, fluttering its transparent wings.

“Nice, isn’t it?” he stated to the beetle, and the beetle flapped its wings again in answer. “Hm, yes,” Caduceus said.

At once, the beetle took to the air, gliding through the opening and away.

“Have fun,” he called.

A sudden whirl of color at the corner of his eye distracted Caduceus, bright crimson and a flash of purple with specks of blue and gold. He turned, confused, but he saw nothing out of place.

Thoughtful, Caduceus stared into thin air, and a light wind blew into his abode, whispering past his sensitive ears.

_“You’re needed,”_ the wind breathed, and Caduceus straightened in his chair. _“Soon.”_

“Needed?” he inquired curiously, and he ran his gaze around his home, searching for that flash of color and taking in the years of life within it. “But my duties —”

He stopped, nodding slowly to himself. His duty was to the Wildmother, above all. If she had seen fit to give him a sign, all Caduceus could do was see it through. Standing from his chair, his tea was forgotten as Caduceus collected an empty, sturdy sack and set it in the center of the table. Opening it, he went about his home, gathering a tea set, some clothes, and other miscellaneous items. He filled the canvas bag, pondering over the necessities, agonizing over which teas to take.

A few days passed, and Caduceus held two tins of tea, debating between them for the dozenth time.

On the farthest wall surrounding the graveyard, covered in thorny, bladed vines, a dirty, thin man with ginger hair leapt over in an anxious scramble.

A sourceless breath of wind flitted by Caduceus, and he stilled as the Wildmother spoke to him once more.

_“It’s time.”_

And then a voice he did not recognize, deeper with a lilt of an accent, pressed against his ears in a soft beseeching caress, _“Look after them.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Author Twitter: [@nanadanonini](https://twitter.com/nanadanonini)  
> Personal Twitter: [@shanananonsense](https://twitter.com/shanananonsense)  
> Author Tumblr: [@floreswrites](http://floreswrites.tumblr.com/)  
> Personal Tumblr: [@nanadanonini](http://nanadanonini.tumblr.com/)


End file.
